Less than a year after it was blocked from opening in East Taunton, a clinic to treat recovering heroin addicts is set to open in the heart of the city’s downtown.

“I contacted the owner and expressed my outrage,” Mayor Charles Crowley said. “A methadone clinic could, in my opinion, be a stigma to Main Street, an area where we’re trying to rehabilitate the downtown. I just think it undermines our concerted efforts to revitalize downtown and attract possible business activity.”

Habit OPCO, Inc., a company that operates methadone clinics throughout Massachusetts and three other states, has reached an agreement to move into 66 Main St. next month. The property is owned by local businessman Carlos Mello, who could not be reached for comment Thursday evening.

Methadone is a clinically administered drug that helps abusers of heroin and some other drugs kick their addictions and overcome

withdrawals. Habit OPCO says it uses a liquid form of methadone that patients drink in the presence of a nurse.

Ed Valadao, chairman of Heart of Taunton, a local nonprofit organization dedicated to downtown interests, said he had just learned of the news Thursday.

“It’s not the most ideal establishment we’re looking for in downtown Taunton, not to discriminate against anyone with a substance abuse problem,” Valadao said. “Is it the best use for a Main Street storefront? Absolutely not.”

Valadao said he had not yet learned all the facts surrounding the clinic and wasn’t in a position to offer further comment. The Heart of Taunton has yet to take an official stance on the matter.

Habit OPCO distributed flyers Thursday announcing that the downtown clinic is scheduled to open Sept. 22. Dosing hours will be from 6 to 10 a.m. Monday through Friday, and 6 to 9 a.m. on weekends. The downtown clinic will take the place of Habit OPCO’s mobile van site at Taunton State Hospital, which is expected to shut down Sept. 21.

Habit OPCO previously tried to open a methadone clinic down the street from East Taunton Elementary School, but was denied the necessary zoning variance during a Zoning Board of Appeals meeting this past November. More than 100 residents attended the hearing, most to voice their opposition to the clinic’s presence so close to a school.

The matter went before the ZBA because the East Taunton property was zoned for industrial use, meaning that a zoning variance would have had to be granted for the clinic to start up there. A methadone clinic, however, is a permitted use at the Main Street location.

Thomas Magaraci, CEO of Habit OPCO, Inc., attended the November ZBA hearing and said the program, which serves 6,000 patients in four states, has a 90 percent success rate.

“These are not people who use drugs,” Magaraci said during the hearing. “These are people who want to turn their lives around.”

“Obviously, this type of tenant isn’t the most ideal for a downtown setting, but Carlos is an integral part of the downtown community,” Sprague said. “We have to poll our members and find their feelings on it.”

Crowley said the city is exploring all available options.

“What I had tried to do was talk to the owner of the building to try to convince him that perhaps that’s not an appropriate tenant for that particular region,” the mayor said. “Everything will be looked at, but that’s a permitted use.”